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Petra or Madaba during Eid

Hello, I am visiting a friend who works in Amman over the Eid holiday. I know it's one of the worst times for tourism in Jordan as it's their biggest holiday season, but this is also when my friend has days off! We wanted to visit some historical sites like Petra or Madaba, will it be too hot and/or crowded for this? Should we rather just try to see things in Amman?

From my experience visiting a few Muslim countries during Ramadan and Eid, few historical sites are closed. While the staff who observe will not eat/drink during daylight hours... they do work and only break fast at sundown.

I have not been to Jordan, but in Morocco Eid is perhaps the major holiday, sort of like Thanksgiving in the U.S. Families travel to be together and traffic becomes a problem. Peace Corps volunteers are not permitted to travel for five days before and after the date due to concerns about road safety. I would suggest that you pick a hotel and call them to see if they will be open and offering full services during that time. If you don't plan on driving yourself, you might also want to be sure drivers are available for the dates you want to travel.

Better yet, see if you can get invited to a local house for the holiday. In Morocco the head of the house slaughters a ram -- at home -- then butchers it and the feasting begins. The choicest bits go first, liver, kidneys, etc. It takes a couple of days to get down to the parts we generally prefer. You'd certainly be off the beaten track!